Publications in Other Sites

-

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Story of Erasure: Indigenous Experiences from the US and Nepal

-
Image
Inside the Tomaquag Museum Indigenous communities worldwide, be it in America or here in Nepal, have suffered great injustices at the hands of colonialist settlers.  This visit to Tomaquag Museum in Exeter, Rhode Island, during my Cultural Exchange Program sponsored by RELO— Regional English Language Office, and facilitated by the University of Rhode Island, was one of the most powerful experiences I've ever had. The rosetinted view I had of the American Revolution and Democracy had to come to terms with the reality of the American Indigenous experiences.   The Declaration of Independence, which is said to enshrine the democratic values of individual rights, equality and sovereignty, and is seen as one of the most important documents in the history of modern democracy, to the people of the Narragansett and the Niantic Nations, it symbolizes oppression, injustice, dehumanisation, and seizure of indigenous land, erasure of people and their cultural identity. The Narrag...
Read more

Us and Them

-
Image
I. Dressed in grey shorts and a maroon T-shirt with an almost empty black backpack, I walk along the footpath by the Sanchaykosh Bhawan . There’s barely any space left along the sidewalk. People from across Kathmandu have thronged to Thamel today, at Durbar Square –a kilometre away— another group have gathered to commemorate the dead. I have decided, instead, to be a part of Nepal’s first Pride Parade. A sense of joy, a sense of pride is welling up in my chest, I have been a part of something historic. I have become, by participating in the parade, an ally of the LGBTIQ+ community. Instead of getting lost in a centuries-old tradition, I once loved as a child, I have become a part of the birth of a new tradition that celebrates the living and not the dead. The “progressive” in me is happy, wondering why people have issues when other people do not live their lives according to what society considers “normal” and acceptable.  The surrounding is festive. Bright, wide smiles. Rainbow Fl...
Read more

Free Speech and the Nepalese Hypocrisy

-
Image
Nepal has a long history of oppression of speech. The Rana regime was the longest and the harshest example of this. People were hanged for speaking their mind. When democracy did come in 1951 (2007 B.S.), it was short-lived. What followed was another autocratic regime—the Panchayat system. It was only in 1991 (2046 B.S.) that democracy was restored. This didn’t last long either, the then King Gyanendra seized power and Nepal was forced into yet another autocratic regime. This, however, didn’t last very long and came to an end in 2008 (2065 B.S.) and Nepal embarked into an era of true democracy, or so we thought.  But, the Electronic Transaction Act 2008 and Information Technology Bill in 2019, has once again pushed us in the wrong direction. Sadly, when it comes to free speech the Constitution leaves too much for interpretation and manoeuvrability for those in power and effectively keeps freedom of speech in their mercy. The Constitution of Nepal article 17(2) (1) state...
Read more